Scuba Dive

By now, most people have heard of the Ocean Garbage “Vortex,” a Texas-sized patch of North Pacific Ocean filled with floating plastic debris.  This phenomenon is, of course, bad news for sea life and humans alike.  Several great organizations are trying to fix the problem, like the Scripps Research Institute and Project Kaisei. 

But a recent CNN article brought my attention to a lesser known, but still problematic, feature of the trash raft – its ability to transport invasive species across the oceans, devastating the ecosystems where they land.  Think about the lionfish’s invasion of the Caribbean (and the devastation it is having on reef fish populations) and then multiply that exponentially based on the size and potential reach of the items in the vortex.  Now that is a really dirty problem.